When do I need to upgrade from 19.10?

[Tom_ZeCat]

Last time around, I got caught with my pants down. Suddenly, my updates were no longer working in Kubuntu 19.04. I had to do some tech digging to get it to start updating again, allowing me to run the upgrade. So when do I need to upgrade to 20.04 or 20.10 to avoid that same problem?

Also, I could have sworn to upgrade, all I had to do was open Discover and search for the word "upgrade." That doesn't seem to find any upgrade packages. I do have some update code saved that I must have used in prior upgrades:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo do-release-upgrade -d

''

Is this code still good? Any gotchas I need to watch for? I'm not unhappy with 19.10. I just need t avoid suddenly getting caught unable to update as happened before. I would also consider LTS.

Here's the previous thread from when I got caught pants down in 19.04:

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...-Kubuntu-19-04

[jglen490]

So the LTS versions are fully supported for three years. The non-LTS versions are fully supported for nine months. So if you are 19.10, it expires(d) around the end of July 2020. So either go with 20.04 LTS, or wait until 20.10. You'll be unsupported for a few months ...

So plan ahead.

[Tom_ZeCat]

So the LTS versions are fully supported for three years. The non-LTS versions are fully supported for nine months. So if you are 19.10, it expires(d) around the end of July 2020. So either go with 20.04 LTS, or wait until 20.10. You'll be unsupported for a few months ...

So plan ahead.

I would probably go with 20.04 LTS. I've never been of the feeling that I have to have every single version. I prefer stability over the latest gadgets. So is the code I posted the right stuff to get me to 20.04? If I remember right, once I've got the update, there's a place in System Settings where I can go in and choose to make it LTS. Correct? Or is there different code I should run to have it upgrade to 20.04 LTS from the get-go.

Of course there's also the option of installing it from scratch, wiping my drive. The disadvantage of that is I have this thing very customized with a lot of applications installed, also customized. While that's doable, if running update code results in a stable system, I would lean toward that.

I do have everything I've installed and all settings I've done documented in a note-taking app named CherryTree. So if I needed to go from scratch, I at least have everything documented on exactly how to get the system to where I need it. One of these days, I'm going to do a show-and-tell post about CherryTree. It's a wonderful tool.

But, anyway, 20.04 LTS is the goal. Is that code I posted the right stuff?

[jglen490]

Over the years, I've done nothing at times but upgrade from one version to the next, and that worked early on. The past decade or so I've nothing but clean installs. I do that after being bitten by some unruly update logic that left me with something kind of in between releases installation that didn't really work. So, I now keep / and /home on separate partitions, backup my /home, and use clean install with the "something else" or "manual" - whatever it's called now - install option. I end up with a stable platform, which is the most important thing to me. Some users say upgrade takes less time, I say maybe, but I almost never have to fix something that's broken from a version upgrade.

It's up to you, but I recommend a clean install.

[TWPonKubuntu]

FWIW, I'm sticking to the LTS versions. The short term versions don't ever seem to offer a strong argument for their use. While it is a matter of personal choice, this is my 2 cents worth of advice, and that takes inflation into account. I realize that the devs are looking for input from we end users but I'll take the stability of LTS over any testing I might do for the OS.

[jlittle]

... installing it from scratch, wiping my drive. The disadvantage of that is I have this thing very customized with a lot of applications installed, also customized...
I do have everything I've installed and all settings I've done documented...

IMO that's brilliant. However, it's still a lot of work, and sometimes doesn't go smoothly, such as when software has been removed from the repos (it happened a lot to python 2 apps). Hardware support can go too.

I've kept a fairly comprehensive set of notes since 16.04 and I decided to clean install 20.04. I began to regret it early on but stubbornness and the sunk cost fallacy stopped me from going back to the release-upgraded install. (Using btrfs I usually have the old release, the release- upgraded one, and a clean install all bootable at the same time.)

As for LTS, they don't usually suit me at all. Even the six-monthly cycle causes me problems with out-of-date software, and I have to find ppas or build from source. If I had the time I'd move on to a rolling release distro.

[Tom_ZeCat]

IMO that's brilliant. However, it's still a lot of work, and sometimes doesn't go smoothly, such as when software has been removed from the repos (it happened a lot to python 2 apps). Hardware support can go too.

I've kept a fairly comprehensive set of notes since 16.04 and I decided to clean install 20.04. I began to regret it early on but stubbornness and the sunk cost fallacy stopped me from going back to the release-upgraded install. (Using btrfs I usually have the old release, the release- upgraded one, and a clean install all bootable at the same time.)

As for LTS, they don't usually suit me at all. Even the six-monthly cycle causes me problems with out-of-date software, and I have to find ppas or build from source. If I had the time I'd move on to a rolling release distro.

Totally true. I've run into some problems with that, especially with some lesser-known applications. I use a wonderful French verb conjugation program named Le Conjugueur. Its Linux version has not been updated or supported since Ubuntu 8.04. To get it to run in versions of Kubuntu since about 14.x, I needed to do research on its dependency files and make sure to install them; then the app runs like a charm. Oddly enough, when I was using Linux Mint/KDE, Le Conjugueur ran smoothly straight from its deb package install. Then there's FreeFileSync, my favorite backup utility, one which I highly recommend. It's not in the repositories, but it used to have a good PPA that I installed it from. That PPA is now defunct, but fortunately FreeFileSync is an easy manual install. You just download it and extract the files and put them in whichever folder you want to run it from.

I have a special folder named "manualinstalls."

The one that's driving me nuts is Jubler, and I may end up posting a thread on it soon. It's the best Linux-based subtitle editor I've found, but it's written in Java, which has proven to be problematic. The thing even has a Windows-style installation wizard that used to work flawlessly. However, recently I've run into Java hassles. At one point Jubler for some reason didn't know where my Java was installed and so I had to direct it to there with a manual link. Now, in my most recent Kubuntu install, Jubler's splash screen comes up, and my Ctrl+Esc list of running executables shows that Java is running, but Jubler just hangs on its splash screen. I end up having to kill Jubler and Java manually to get it to stop. I could try out some more Linux-based subtitle editors or try to run my favorite Windows one in WINE.

But, you're right. A from-scratch OS install often becomes a major project, even if you have your previous use well documented, which I do. I used to also create a Clonezilla ghost of any OS install so that I can revert to when it was working with a simple restore, but I haven't done that as much in Linux. It was more urgent to do that in Windows with how buggy and weird that OS often gets.

[oshunluvr]

...It was more urgent to do that in Windows with how buggy and weird that OS often gets.

Seriously, Windows in a VM is the only way to go.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Seriously, Windows in a VM is the only way to go.

Yes. I don't even run Windows on my home PC at all anymore. I only run it on my work PC, and that's because my job mandates it. But I'm probably going to put VM on this home PC at some point just to run a few programs. Linux doesn't have any Chess program that come even close to what's available for Windows. I'll probably run Windows 7 in VM and not even allow it to access the Internet. Thus no antivirus will be needed.

I also need to run a screenwriting/playwriting word processor named Final Draft. I do hear that Linux offerings for screenwriting programs have vastly improved though. I hope we have good WYSIWYG HTML editor choices too now. For a while, Linux web development software was a vast wasteland. It would be nice if there's a good Dreamweaver equivalent now.

[oshunluvr]

Yes. I don't even run Windows on my home PC at all anymore. I only run it on my work PC, and that's because my job mandates it. But I'm probably going to put VM on this home PC at some point just to run a few programs. Linux doesn't have any Chess program that come even close to what's available for Windows. I'll probably run Windows 7 in VM and not even allow it to access the Internet. Thus no antivirus will be needed.

I also need to run a screenwriting/playwriting word processor named Final Draft. I do hear that Linux offerings for screenwriting programs have vastly improved though. I hope we have good WYSIWYG HTML editor choices too now. For a while, Linux web development software was a vast wasteland. It would be nice if there's a good Dreamweaver equivalent now.

I have a Windows PC for work also, but use VM's at home for my work functions. I have not ever found a need to use Windows for anything since Steam increased support for Linux. However, it seems very odd that not ONE Linux programmer has created an awesome chess program, doesn't it? I haven't played chess since high school (when I also started taking my first computer courses in 1976 - programming an IBM 360 mainframe using Fortran IV with Watfiv) and even then, chess was one of the earliest games available - even before graphics! https://www.chess.com/blog/SamCopela...apps-for-chess

[Snowhog]

However, it seems very odd that not ONE Linux programmer has created an awesome chess program, doesn't it?

Stockfish: (Strong open source chess engine): https://stockfishchess.org
Scibd: ("Scidb is a Chess Information Data Base") is a chess database application for Linux/Unix and Windows. Scidb is inspired by Scid ("Shane's Chess Information Database"), but it is a completely new development.) http://scidb.sourceforge.net

[Tom_ZeCat]

I have a Windows PC for work also, but use VM's at home for my work functions. I have not ever found a need to use Windows for anything since Steam increased support for Linux. However, it seems very odd that not ONE Linux programmer has created an awesome chess program, doesn't it? I haven't played chess since high school (when I also started taking my first computer courses in 1976 - programming an IBM 360 mainframe using Fortran IV with Watfiv) and even then, chess was one of the earliest games available - even before graphics! https://www.chess.com/blog/SamCopela...apps-for-chess

Yeah, it's a little bit bizarre, though nowadays I'm more likely to play chess on my Android than on a PC. I've found some pretty good Android chess games, but my favorite one doesn't even offer a setup position feature. WTF? That's a feature that I used in Chessmaster 2500 way back in 1988 on a DOS-based 8088 PC.

I am considering getting one of those computerized chess sets. I miss playing with actual pieces. I'm not even all that great at chess and have never done tournament play. I hear a really good tournament player can think something like 15 moves ahead. That makes my head spin. At best, I can think maybe three moves ahead. But a good chess computer and some solid strategy can really help. In high school, I used to play against a friend named Thomas, and he used to always kick my ass. This was in the early 80s before I even owned a PC, but I was able to buy a Radio Shack chess computer with these tiny chess pieces on top a little board. I didn't even use that little board.

I took my regular chess set and attached little tags to each square that identified its coordinate. The chess computer used coordinate notation, so it was perfect. Then I got a book about basic chess strategy and practiced against that computer. I got a lot better and was able to beat Thomas.

I'd doubt I'll ever be any kind of grandmaster, but it would be nice to have a really feature-rich chess app on this PC, and the Windows ones totally outclass anything available in Linux. I might try adding that chess engine to PyChess that Snowhog recommends. That will probably make it more challenging, but it still wouldn't add features like piece setup.

Edit: Oh, wow, I'm a goof. PyChess does have a setup position feature. I don't think it's always had it. I like setting up strange situations like one side has just pawns and four rooks while the other has just pawns and a queen. Or I'll play with only pawns while the other side has everything just to see how long I can hold out with good pawn structure.